This article is about the band. For the blood type, see
blood type.
Type O Negative was a heavy metal band from Brooklyn, New York City. Although commonly viewed as a gothic metal band, Type O has also incorporated elements of doom metal and thrash metal. Their dramatic lyrical emphasis on themes of romance, depression, and death resulted in the nickname "The Drab Four" (in homage to The Beatles' "Fab Four" moniker). The band went Platinum with 1993's Bloody Kisses, and Gold with 1996's October Rust, and gained an enormous following with seven studio albums, two best-of compilations, and concert DVDs.
On April 14, 2010, lead vocalist, bassist, and principal songwriter Peter Steele died, reportedly from heart failure. No official statement from the band has been made about its future but members Kenny Hickey and Johnny Kelly stated in a November 2010 interview with French music magazine Rock Hard that the band is no more.[1] The band's official website continues to have periodic updates.
History
Origins (1980s–1991)
Type O Negative's members were originally in a band called Northern Lights formed in 1976 with Dennis Rizzo, Peter Steele, Josh Silver and John Campos. The band changed its name to Fallout around 1979 and began altering its musical format from classic rock covers to original gothic-style rock. Mr. Rizzo left in 1980 and was replaced by Louie Beato, who joined the remaining 3 Fallout members. The band released one EP in 1981, titled Batteries Not Included. It enjoyed modest success on college radio. Shortly thereafter, Silver left Fallout to form Original Sin, which combined the sounds of eighties hair metal and new wave. Meanwhile, Steele went on to found the thrash metal band Carnivore. Carnivore spent much of the mid-eighties playing venues in and around the East Coast, including the now defunct CBGB's on the Lower East Side of Manhattan, and the now defunct L’amours in Bay Ridge, Brooklyn. The band's lyrics were harsh and very politically incorrect, dealing with race, religion, war, and misogyny, with a sound reminiscent of speed metal mixed with hardcore break-downs and three-chord punk rock.
Following the release of their second album, Retaliation, Carnivore went on hiatus. Two years later, Steele recruited long-time friend, Sal Abruscato, Type O Negative's original drummer. Soon after, Silver was convinced to join, with fellow childhood friend Kenny Hickey following suit. They originally named themselves "Repulsion" (not to be confused with the death metal band of the same name) and "Sub-Zero,"[2] but after an extensive search through the Yellow Pages for potential names, they realized "Subzero" had already been taken. Due to the band already having the "o" negative tattoos for subzero, they decided to name the band "Type O Negative." The band released a demo, which caught the ear of executives at Roadracer Records which later became Roadrunner Records, a prominent American label for metal and hard rock in the late eighties and early nineties. Roadrunner signed them to a five-album record deal, and in 1991 the band quickly released their debut, Slow Deep and Hard.
Slow Deep and Hard and The Origin of the Feces (1991–1992)
Produced under the working title None More Negative,[3] Type O's first album Slow Deep and Hard incorporated dragging dirge riffs, maniacal punk-metal outbursts, and droning industrial and gothic atmospheres. The songs were long, multi-part theatrical epics, with lyrical topics ranging from heartbreak to getting revenge on a cheating lover, and even contemplating suicide. Their first tour following the album's release was met with hostility, primarily by Dutch political activists who failed to recognize Peter Steele's tongue-in-cheek humor regarding certain social topics, which resulted in false accusations that the band's members were misogynists and Nazi sympathizers.[4] This was perceived as ironic by the band, as Josh Silver is Jewish (they made light of the situation on the album Bloody Kisses, with a song titled "We Hate Everyone").
Back in the States, Roadrunner Records held Type O Negative to a contractual obligation of recording a live album with Isaac Hayes producing[citation needed]. With the money they received from the label to facilitate the recording of the album at Brighton Beach, Brooklyn, Type O instead used it to buy cheap vodka, and re-recorded their debut in Silver's basement[citation needed]. They later dubbed in live noises, and improvised a fake "fight" between the band and the hostile "crowd." Entitled The Origin of the Feces, a warning label was put on the album cover: "Not Live At Brighton Beach." The cover was also controversial, as it originally depicted a man's anus (believed to be Steele) being spread by his hands, until later copies featured a different cover depicting skeletons. Roadrunner was not amused with the prank, but went ahead and released the album in 1992 anyway.
Rise to fame (1993–2001)
Type O Negative's true second album, Bloody Kisses, was released in 1993 to critical and listener acclaim, and eventually became the first record for Roadrunner to reach certified Platinum status in the US.
Bloody Kisses mostly addressed loneliness and heartbreak, with songs like "Too Late: Frozen," "Blood & Fire," and "Can't Lose You." The organ-driven "Set Me On Fire" is vintage sixties garage rock, while "Summer Breeze" covered the 1972 Seals and Crofts hit. "Christian Woman" and "Black No. 1 (Little Miss Scare-All)" became the most popular tracks, after having been edited down to radio-friendly lengths (the album versions were 8½ and 11 minutes long). In order to promote the album, Type O Negative embarked on a two-year world tour. Steele, who stood over 6' 8", had a signature action during concerts of playing a double bass slung over his shoulder with a large chain, instead of an electric bass (this also appears in the "Black No. 1" music video[5]). During this time, the band was featured on MTV, VH1, and in Rolling Stone. In the midst of this media blitz, drummer Sal Abruscato quit the band to join another Brooklyn quartet, Life of Agony. Johnny Kelly, the band's drum technician, was therefore hired as a full-fledged member. Bloody Kisses was re-released a year after the original release in a limited-edition Digipak form, including eight of the musical tracks from the original (omitting the "filler" tracks) and the previously unreleased "Suspended In Dusk."
The unexpected success of Bloody Kisses brought on the pressure of recording a successor. The record label, suddenly capitalizing on the revenue being generated by Type O Negative, began pressuring Steele and company to write even more commercial-friendly songs. The band tried to strike a balance between the commercial and the creative, and the result was 1996's October Rust. Picking up where Bloody Kisses left off, this album continued to explore themes of sex and sensuality, explored in a humorous sense on the single "My Girlfriend's Girlfriend" and then taken much darker with "Love You To Death." This record also saw a cover of Neil Young's "Cinnamon Girl," as well as the fan favorite, semi-serene "Green Man." While not quite as successful as Bloody Kisses, the album was certified Gold in the US, and was the first Type O Negative album to enter the top half of the Billboard Top 200, debuting at No. 42. It was also around this time that the band garnered some controversy. On The Howard Stern Show, Steele admitted having fantasies of murder-suicide involving girlfriends, and confirmed claims that Kurt Cobain was his "hero" for "having the balls to shoot himself."[6] He also appeared in Playgirl, although he regretted the decision after finding out via Kenny Hickey's publishing contacts that "[only] 23% of the magazine's subscribers are female."[7] Steele was reportedly "very disheartened" when he found out about the magazine's demographics, and made light of the situation on the track "I Like Goils" on a later album, to underline his purely straight stance on his sexuality.
With the completion of another successful world tour, writing for a fourth album began. In the period immediately following the release of October Rust, Steele experienced several deaths in his immediate family, and he began drinking heavily to mask the bereavement and pain. This epoch of self-loathing would eventually manifest itself in the next album, 1999's World Coming Down (working titles included Prophets Of Doom and Aggroculture). The vibe of the album was a significant change from October Rust; this time the band revisited the more dooming sounds of Slow Deep & Hard. This time around, instead of sex and romance, lyrics focused on death, drug addiction, depression, and suicide. Songs such as "Everyone I Love is Dead," "Everything Dies," "World Coming Down," and "All Hallows Eve" were not meant to be tongue-in-cheek, but rather true life reflections of Steele's mindset at the time. It was nowhere near as accessible as Bloody Kisses or October Rust, but despite its morbid subject matter, World Coming Down debuted at # 39 on the Billboard Top 200 charts.
A 'best of' album followed in 2000, entitled The Least Worst of Type O Negative. Although most songs appear on previous albums, many are unreleased remixes or B-sides on previously released singles. Along with these songs are some unreleased numbers from the World Coming Down sessions, the band's cover of "Black Sabbath" by Black Sabbath, and a cleaner version of "Hey Pete" (originally released on the mock live album The Origin of the Feces).
Life Is Killing Me and Dead Again (2002–2009)
Type O Negative's sixth studio album, Life Is Killing Me (originally called The Dream Is Dead after the closing song), was released in 2003. For this album, the band picked up the pace of their sound from the dirgeful slowness of World Coming Down. Songs such as "Todd's Ship Gods," "(We Were) Electrocute," and "I Don't Wanna Be Me" convey the band's classic elements of melody, though the song lengths were much shorter on this outing, the longest being the 7 and a half minute "How Could She?", a list of female character names from television shows. A humorous cover of the song "Angry Inch" from the musical Hedwig and the Angry Inch, detailing a sex change operation gone terribly wrong, marks the band's return to its trademark humor that had been absent on their previous album.
After the release, Steele spent a brief time in prison for battery and endured a stint in drug rehabilitation. After Roadrunner Records released the 2006 compilation The Best of Type O Negative (allegedly without notifying the band),[8] Type O split from the label upon a better offer from SPV Records and released Dead Again in March 2007. A video for "The Profits of Doom" (spelled "Profit" in some instances) arrived in April, and the "September Sun" video was finished in November. Both videos saw frequent airplay on MTV's Headbangers Ball in the weeks after each release.[9] Dead Again saw a culmination of previous Type O styles, from the thrash-inspired title track to the blues rock style "An Ode To Locksmiths." Female vocalist Tara Vanflower also appears on "Halloween In Heaven." The album debuted at # 27 in the US; the band's highest chart debut to date. They also continued to tour through October of that year, including a performance at the Rock am Ring festival in Nürburgring, Germany.[10]
Two special editions of Dead Again were announced in January 2008, for a February release. One is a two-disc package that includes live performances at Wacken Open Air 2007, with interviews and music videos, and the other is a 3LP vinyl set, with a 12-page booklet and T-shirt.[9]
In 2007 the band played at the biggest open-air festival in Europe (400.000 – 500.000 rock fans every year) – Przystanek Woodstock[11] in Poland
Death of Peter Steele (2010)
On April 14, 2010, frontman and bassist Peter Steele died, reportedly from heart failure. The following statement concerning Steele was released April 15 on the band's official website:
| “ |
It is with great sadness that we inform you that Type O Negative front man, bassist, and our band mate, Peter Steele passed away last night of what appears to be heart failure. Ironically Peter had been enjoying a long period of sobriety and improved health and was imminently due to begin writing and recording new music for our follow up to "Dead Again" released in 2007.
The official cause of death has yet to be determined pending autopsy results. The funeral services will be private and memorial services will be announced at a future date. We’d like to share our thoughts and those of Peter’s family below. We are truly saddened to lose our friend and appreciate the tremendous outpouring today from around the world.
Sincerely,
Josh, Kenny and Johnny[12]
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” |
In a November 2010 interview with Rock Hard magazine, Johnny Kelly and Kenny Hickey confirmed that following Steele's death, the band is no more.[1]
Roadrunner Records will release a box set of all the band's albums for Back To Black Friday 2011, a spinoff of Record Store Day, on November 25th 2011. Each vinyl cover will be textless and The Origin Of The Feces will include its original cover art. The box set will also contain various bumper stickers related to the band. The box set claims to include all Roadrunner released material by the band, but it has not yet been indicated whether it includes any non-album tracks.[13]
Soundtracks and covers
Type O songs have appeared in numerous motion pictures, including "Blood and Fire (Out of the Ashes Remix)" on the 1995 Mortal Kombat movie soundtrack (also on the bonus CD of Life is Killing Me), "Love You to Death" in Bride of Chucky, "(We Were) Electrocute" in Freddy vs. Jason, and "Summer Breeze" in I Know What You Did Last Summer. As a result of Howard Stern being a self-professed fan, Private Parts: The Album contains "Pictures of Matchstick Men" with the band playing music and Ozzy Osbourne on vocals. "Haunted" also appears on The Blair Witch Project "soundtrack CD" (the album's concept was to contain songs from "a tape that was found in the woods with the students' gear." In 1998, Arrow Videos made their own version of the 1922 classic horror film Nosferatu, by simply overdubbing the silent film with a soundtrack consisting entirely of Type O Negative tracks, taken from the first four albums. This version is now on DVD from DigiView Entertainment, a company that makes budget-priced DVDs. It also has an introduction by actor David Carradine.
In other media, the computer game Descent 2 features a shortened, instrumental version of the track "Haunted". Additionally, Descent 2: The Vertigo Series contains a full-length version of the instrumental; the compilation Duke Nukem: Music to Score By features "Cinnamon Girl (Extended Depression Mix)"; "Love You to Death" in the computer game Blood; "Out of the Fire" from the Life is Killing Me bonus CD was a theme created for WWE Superstar Kane, but was never used. Recently, the opening two seconds of "I Don't Wanna Be Me" were used as a frequent sample in Grand Theft Auto IV, on the Liberty Rock Radio Station.
Numerous covers have also been performed. The Doors' "Light My Fire" has been covered live numerous times, mostly during the 90s.[14] Steele has described the song as "probably the greatest song ever written," before apologizing for having "destroyed it." Seals and Crofts' "Summer Breeze" appears on Bloody Kisses, and Neil Young's "Cinnamon Girl" appears on October Rust. The tongue-in-cheek "Angry Inch" (from Hedwig and the Angry Inch) also appears on Life is Killing Me. World Coming Down also included a Beatles medley consisting of "Day Tripper," "If I Needed Someone," and "I Want You (She's so Heavy)." Other covers include a rendition of Black Sabbath's "Paranoid" and "N.I.B."; Status Quo's "Pictures of Matchstick Men" with Ozzy Osbourne, two versions of "Black Sabbath" (one with the original lyrics and one rewritten by Peter Steele to be from Satan's perspective), Jimi Hendrix's "Hey Joe" (rewritten as "Hey Pete"); The Beatles' "Back in the U.S.S.R.", Deep Purple's "Highway Star" and Creedence Clearwater Revival's "Bad Moon Rising". A medley of Santana's "Evil Ways," "Oye Como Va," and "Black Magic Woman" are also available on the CD accompanying the DVD Symphony for the Devil. The 2007 tour song set started with a cover of "Magical Mystery Tour" from The Beatles.
"In the Flesh", originally written by Pink Floyd from their album "The Wall," is another song that Type O Negative covered, as they used it as the opening song for their 1999 World Tour. Their version can be seen on the live DVD, "Symphony for the Devil." Also on the same DVD, in "Too Late: Frozen", the intro began with Jethro Tull's "Aqualung".
Gimmicks
Liner notes
The band employs several gimmicks in their liner notes. A fictional individual named "Phlogiston Verdigris" has been mentioned in at least two different contexts. He is mentioned as the conductor of the "Brooklyn Philharmonic Orchestra" in the notes for Bloody Kisses, and attributed the quote "Better to be hated for who you are than loved for who you are not" on the back of The Least Worst of Type O Negative (despite actually being a quote by André Gide). The name "Phlogiston Verdigris" is actually a pseudonym referencing the two main colors evident on Type O album art and merchandise.
- orange – Once the basis for a popular chemical theory, "phlogiston" is defined by Wiktionary as "the hypothetical fiery principle formerly assumed to be a necessary constituent of combustible bodies and to be given up by them in burning."[15]
- green – On the other hand, "verdigris" is defined by Wiktionary as "a blue-green powder, copper acetate, that forms as a patina on copper, brass or bronze that has weathered; also used as a paint pigment."[16] The chemical makeup of verdigris is (Cu(C2H3O2)2. 2Cu(OH)2) Copper II acetate di-copper II hydroxide.
The Bensonhoist Lesbian Choir
The Bensonhoist Lesbian Choir is credited with backup vocals on all Type O Negative releases. In reality the "choir" is simply the other members of Type O Negative performing harmonized or synchronized backup vocals. The name "Bensonhoist" comes from the neighborhood of Bensonhurst, Brooklyn, rendered in the local New York dialect.[17]
Audio gags
The band also plays audio practical jokes on first-time listeners of some of their CDs.
Slow Deep And Hard has a song entitled "The Misinterpretation of Silence and its Disastrous Consequences", which is actually just 60 seconds of silence. First time listeners would usually think the record was over after the discordant ambient noises of the preceding track, "Glass Walls of Limbo", unaware that the song "Gravitational Constant" would begin playing after a minute's pause.
Both October Rust and World Coming Down have a "fake" first track, intended to make a first-time listener believe there was something wrong with their stereo. On the October Rust cd, the first track (titled "Bad Ground" on the sleeve) is 38 seconds of low humming which sounds like a partly unplugged speaker cable, or an ungrounded wire. On World Coming Down, the first track (titled "Skip It" on the sleeve) is 9 seconds of audio that sounds like the CD is skipping, followed by guitarist Kenny Hickey shouting "Sucker!"
Band members
Discography
For a complete discography, see Type O Negative discography.
References
- ^ a b Raymond, Laurent (January 2011). "Type O Negative/Seventh Void: The Show must go on". Rock Hard 106: 40. (Interview with Kenny Hickey, Johnny Kelly and Matt Brown, November 27th, 2010)
- ^ Garry Sharpe-Young (2007). Metal: The Definitive Guide. p. 292.
- ^ Garry Sharpe-Young (2007). Metal: The Definitive Guide. p. 293.
- ^ Steve Huey. "Type O Negative Biography on Yahoo! Music". Music.yahoo.com. http://music.yahoo.com/ar-266577-bio--Type-O-Negative. Retrieved March 18, 2010.
- ^ "Type O Negative - Black No. 1 (Little Miss Scare -All)". YouTube. 2009-10-26. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vFwYJYl5GUQ. Retrieved 2011-08-17.
- ^ [1][dead link]
- ^ "The Official Type O Negative Website". Web.archive.org. July 5, 2003. Archived from the original on July 5, 2003. http://web.archive.org/web/20030705153411/typeonegative.net/oldbio.html. Retrieved March 18, 2010.
- ^ 24 juni 2007. "Type O Negative About Touring And Roadrunner". Youtube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=0p5qtdQ5ow4. Retrieved March 18, 2010.
- ^ a b "Type O Negative' Official Computer Email Page". Typeonegative.net. http://typeonegative.net/index.php. Retrieved March 18, 2010.
- ^ "Marek Lieberberg Presents: Rock-am-Ring 2008!". Rock-am-ring.com. December 23, 2009. http://www.rock-am-ring.com. Retrieved March 18, 2010.
- ^ [2][dead link]
- ^ "Type O Negative' Official Computer Email Page". Typeonegative.net. http://www.typeonegative.net/index.php. Retrieved 2011-08-17.
- ^ "Official Record Store Day Website". recordstoreday.com. http://www.recordstoreday.com/SpecialRelease/5149. Retrieved 2011-11-11.
- ^ "Type O Negative – Light My Fire". YouTube. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jjncGxnp-Yc. Retrieved March 18, 2010.
- ^ "Phlogiston at Wiktionary". En.wiktionary.org. http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/phlogiston. Retrieved March 18, 2010.
- ^ "Verdigris at Wiktionary". En.wiktionary.org. January 6, 2010. http://en.wiktionary.org/wiki/verdigris. Retrieved March 18, 2010.
- ^ Garry Sharpe-Young (2007). Metal: The Definitive Guide. p. 294.
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